In the United States, more people are being killed on the streets of our country than in wars, said Mayor of the City of New Orleans Mitchell Landrieu at the opening ceremony of the America Healing Conference in New Orleans on April 24.
And a majority of the 15,000 people killed violently in the United States last year were African-American young men – who were killed by other black young men.
Landrieu questioned why the government did not spend trillions of dollars on solving this problem like the trillions going towards wars. Landrieu provided his opinion.
“It’s based on the idea that that lives of African-American men are expendable,” Landrieu said. “They are not – not even on their worst day.”
Landrieu opened the space for the next few days of conversations about “Healing for Democracy,” a racial equity initiative of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. The St. Louis American is covering the four-day event – a convening of the nation’s leading civil rights, social justice, academic and community leaders to explore a more inclusive democracy.
Dr. Gail Christopher, the foundation’s vice president of program strategy, said the convening comes at a critical time for the nation.
“Trayvon Martin’s tragic killing, the shootings in Tulsa, the beating death of an Iraqi-American woman in California and organized efforts to suppress voter participation for people of color,” Christopher said, “all exemplify the need for racial healing that can break down the historic barriers that have divided our nation.”
Landrieu also posed the question of why our nation was so emotionally riled by Trayvon Martin’s case. Landrieu placed three thick notebooks on the podium. All were filled the city’s murder victims since 1979.
“What is it that we get upset about?” he asked. “Is it the injustice or the loss of life? It’s not clear to me.”
The foundation asked Landrieu to speak as a gesture of asking permission from the “land’s leaders” to meet in their city. Right after Landrieu welcomed the conference participants, the foundation asked Queen Chief Elwin Warhorse Gillum, queen of the Tchefuncta Nation and chief of the Chahta Tribe, for her blessing and words of reflection.
“It doesn’t shock me that so many young men were killed on our streets,” Chief Warhorse said, reflecting on how many of her nation’s people have been murdered.
Chief Warhorse said the problem has to be addressed at its core.
“How can we teach children not to murder when we murder every day with the pen,” she said. “We have to look at the creators of America. If the foundation is not right, the structure will not stand.”
Christopher said although there has been a civil war and a civil rights movement, the nation has not uprooted the country’s founding belief systems. The conference promises to plant seeds of change and feed the hunger of those who want to deal with these issues in a straightforward manner.
“These are important stories,” she said. “We are who we are because of our history – not in spite of.”